1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a household liquid dispenser and specifically to one having a refill that is easily replaced when spent and is keyed to the dispenser.
2. Description of the Related Art
Motorized and mechanical household liquid dispensers are well known in the art. These dispensers have attempted to satisfy a number of criteria to be acceptable to consumers. These criteria include ease of dispensing, reliability of dispensing and ease in refilling the dispenser. When the dispenser is used to dispense a skin care or cleansing product, the user expects that the product dispensed will be of consistent and excellent quality for personal application to the skin. Manufacturers have sought to provide specific interfaces for refills for dispensers to assure the consumer that the product dispensed will be of the quality expected while minimizing production costs and providing easy replacement for the user. A brief representation of the prior art is set forth below.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,920 issued to Boll et al. on Mar. 20, 2007 discloses a household liquid dispenser that may be variously refilled by insertion of a specifically shaped refill container, insertion of a bottle or manually refilled etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,467,651 issued to Muderlak et al. on Oct. 22, 2002 discloses an automatic fluid soap dispensing apparatus where the replaceable reservoir and pump combination is mounted under the dispenser via a vertical male-female type connection.
However, these and other prior art devices do not incorporate structural elements that desirably provide consistent operation, easy refill replacement, low cost of manufacture and a specific keyed arrangement to prevent the substitution of low quality household liquids such as skin care and cleansing products without the desired properties that the user expects to find.